POLITICAL NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10711, 15 October 1912, Page 3

POLITICAL NOTES.

(From the Dominion.) DEiFENOE AND LAND BILLS THIS WEEK. Tho Government had intended to. op-e.i tii« second loading debate ui tii© Land Bill to-morrow, but there is now a possibility that tho consideration of the Defence Bill in Commit- | too may be the first, important item of business to be dealt with by the House this week. The Public Works Statement is in print, and may be presented to the House towards the end of this week, l>ut it is unlikely that the debate iipon the Statement and its accompanying Estimates will} begin before next week. Although tho Order Paper is heavily stocked it is still considered possible that the session may end this month. Hi® Prime Minister is to inform the House shortly what measures the Government intends to go on with. THE LAND BILL. Conversation in tho lobbies with j some prominent Oppositionists indie- 1 ates that the Land Bill, in which the Government proposes to give effect to a-portion of its policy, may encounter less bitter and determined opposition than some people have \ foretold for it. Although it- covers a I good deal of ground, the present Land j Bill does riot offend the susceptibilities of the moderate and, extreme, leaseholders sitting in. Opposition in anything like so great a degree asdo 1 some features of tho. Government .land policy which have yet to be put in legislative form. The-proposal to give lease in perpetuity tenants of ; ordinary Crown lands the> Mgjht to ' purchase their holdings-on more lib- j oral terms than have hitherto obtain- j ed does not raise the question of lease- , hold versus freehold, since the tenants -have for some years enjoyed the right to purchase their -holdings at present value. If the Government proposes next session to give lease in-iperp'etuity tenants jof settlement lands the right to acquire the free- ! ;hold. the leasehold party will, no douibt, exert all its powers against the proposal. ' One Opposition member, who was spoken to on Saturday, declared that" if such a 'proposal had i* been contained in the present Land ( Bill tho House would have been kept j sittimr until Christmas. No doubt ( the Bill as it stands will be keenly debated, hut the general opinion in the lobbies seems to be that a hat- ] tle-roya.l of the respective parties on the land question rfill be deferred until the Government brings down a Bi'll giving' full effect to its announced policy. LABOUR BILLS. Tho Prime Minister has announced j in the House that no attempt will be made to alter the constitution of the Arbitration Court 'Until existing in-' dustrial disturbances have been set- j tied, and it is very probable that the ! principal Labour Bill of the session, ) \ when it is brought down, will be •i fotind' to contain, little more than a provision making it obligatory in ■ unions to: take a • secret ballot of their members before declaring lastrike. " 'Other Labour' Bills in. hand.' are those whicli aim at regulating the housing conditions of fl.axmi.ll ' workers, and the Plumbers Registration Bill, which has been introduced by' the Hon. R. H. Rhodes. It is probable that at deast one other Labour Bill will be submitted to the House this session. < ' i TAUPO-UOTARA PETITION. The special Committee of v the A House of Representatives set tip to r consider the petition of the TaupoA Totara Timber Company for permiss- ' ion to. extend its light railway to A Lako Taupo is to hold its final, meoting to-day, and its report may be preA iSented" to the House any day this week; Probably an afternoon will be set' aside , for « discussion upon £he . i'eptrt of the committee, if the House' m so desires. v MONDAY SITTINGS. 4a Pursuant to'a .resolution passed r last week, the House of Representat- & ives will sit to-night, and for the .rest ' . of the session, on Mondays, at 7.30 J p.m.

A NATIVE LAND PROPOSAL. All important proposal contained in the Native Land Bill i s that which J aims at conferring on Educated Maoris all the rights and privileges of Europeans. The effect, if the proposal is given legislation sanction, will be to enable those Natives who -take up the privileges to dispose of their lands with all the freedom that a European enjoys in jaaid transactions. The Bill is at present before the Native Affairs Committee, which may modify some of its previsions, and the Native Minister (the Hon. W. H. Herries) is on that account not at present disposed to discuss its provisions. S